Chapter 15

ROSE

My brief moment with Ashton was exactly that. Not even as good as he made me feel could make me forget about what I had to do. Even with him by my side, the anxiety in my stomach hadn’t gone away.

I squeezed my arms tight around him, worrying the entire time as we sped through the streets. It wasn’t long before we came upon a small storage warehouse in the heart of Ivory.

Ashton quickly pulled his ride up to the side and we snuck inside of it as quickly as we could. He flipped a switch and the lights flickered on. The sprawling warehouse was completely empty.

“What is this?” I asked.

“The MC keeps this place for storage. Spare parts. Furniture for the clubhouse. All of the shit we can’t fit in the back of the bar.”

“It’s… empty now.”

“Some asshole blew it up awhile back. Lost everything. We let go of the man guarding it. Now it’s just… what you see.” He walked up to me and put his hands on my shoulders. “Nobody knows we’re here. Nobody will bother looking for us in a place like this. I’ve been tailed before. I made sure nobody was even close. It’s just us, Rose.”

Ashton was so ruggedly handsome it was easy to forget how strong he was. I hadn’t forgotten about what I had to do but I felt safer than I had ever since I got the visit from Picardo.

He took a step back from me and put his hands on his hips. “Now… You wanna tell me what the hell this is all about?”

I looked down at my phone. Joey didn’t respond to the message I’d sent but I knew he’d read it. I could only hope he’d make it to the address without drawing any attention to himself.

“I… I’m in something, Ashton. Something deep. Something I don’t think even you can help get me out of.”

“Why don’t you tell me what it is and I’ll be the judge of that?”

“Right…” I sighed softly. Despite everything happening, I still managed to work a smile onto my face. Ashton had that kind of effect on me. He’d been here this entire time and even this didn’t seem like it would be enough to scare him away.

“My brother… My brother got into something. He got into it with some real bad people. He’s in trouble. I know he is.”

“Your brother… You never talked much about him.”

“He’s my half-brother. Not that it matters one way or another. But he’s never around that much. Ever since I left for school, he’s popped in and out.”

“And when he popped in, he brought some trouble with him.”

“That’s putting it lightly.” My head dropped. I stared down at the ground, trying to figure out a way to soften the news. Ashton stayed calm. I could feel his eyes on me as he patiently waited for me to keep going. “It’s…”

A sudden knock on the steel door to the side cut me off. I gulped so hard it echoed inside of the empty, silent warehouse. We both stared at the door for a moment before turning to each other.

“Yo, Rose! You in there?” My brother’s voice came through the door.

Ashton narrowed his eyes, reaching behind his waist where he kept his piece.

“It’s okay.” I put my hand up to calm him down. “It’s him. It’s Joey…”

Ashton pulled his gun out, pointing it at the door as I approached. I swallowed hard before opening it up. As soon as I did, Joey pushed his way inside and slammed the door shut.

“Jesus,” he muttered. “Had me standing out there looking like an asshole.”

“Shit, Joey…” I rushed my arms around him and squeezed him tighter than I’d ever hugged him. “I thought something happened to you.”

“You know me, sis. Nothing is ever gonna happen to me. I know how to take care of myself. I haven’t met a…” He stopped talking as soon as he noticed Ashton, who was still pointing his gun right at him. “Shit… What the fuck is he doing here?” The sudden panic in his voice confused me. Ashton scrunched his face like he wasn’t sure what to think. “Rose. This guy—”

“It’s okay.” I pressed my hand on Joey’s chest to calm him down. “It’s Ashton. He’s my boyfriend. You can trust him.”

Joey blinked his eyes like he’d misheard me. “I’m sorry… D-did you say boyfriend?”

“What’s wrong? You knew I was dating a biker.”

“Right…” Joey twisted his lips as he took a step closer to Ashton. I still wasn’t sure what to make of either one of them but cooler heads seemed to be prevailing.

“Ashton… It’s okay…”

Ashton hesitated for a moment. For some reason, he still kept his gun pointed at Joey. I was just about to warn him again but Ashton lowered his gun down, almost reluctantly.

Joey sighed a soft breath through his nose then turned back to me. “We need to talk.”

“Yeah, we do—”

“Alone.”

I shook my head in confusion. “We are alone.”

“I mean just us two. He… He can’t hear about this.”

“Joey, they’re threatening mom and dad. Ashton can help us. He’s the only man in Ivory we can trust.”

“You mind telling me what the fuck is going on?” Ashton finally spoke up. “Somebody is threatening your parents? Am I hearing that right?”

“Listen, pal. I know you care about my sister and all that. But you don’t have to worry about it. I’ll take it from here—”

“It’s some gangster,” I said. “Some guy who calls himself Picardo.”

“Picardo?” Ashton raised an eyebrow at me. “Aaron Picardo?”

“Yeah… I think that’s the name he gave me. Apparently, he does have a reputation around here…”

“Aaron Picardo threatened you and your family? And why would he do something like that?” Ashton shifted his stare toward Joey, who’d suddenly become uncomfortable.

My brother rubbed the back of his neck and looked at me with a nervous smile. “Come on, sis. You don’t need to worry about this. I head out of town and Picardo will come looking for me. He won’t bother you or mom and dad. He wants me, not you.”

“I don’t know Picardo,” I said. “But he doesn’t seem like the kind of man who’ll let something like this go so easily—”

“It’s you.” Ashton cut me off, his eyes locked on Joey. “It’s you.”

Joey gave him a confused look and shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, man.”

“It’s you.” Ashton took a step forward, his eyes wide in disbelief. “I remember your voice. I remember your voice… I remember your fucking voice!”

Without warning, Ashton raised up and slammed his fist right into Joey’s head. My brother stumbled back and fell with a thud.

“Ashton!” I rushed up in front of Ashton and stopped him from moving forward. It took all of my strength to hold him back.

“It’s you! You stupid motherfucker! You pulled a job on fucking Picardo!”

My brother stayed on his back, smiling as he rubbed his head. “I guess it was pretty stupid…”

“You’re gonna get everybody killed!”

“Ashton!” I pleaded with him, putting my hands on his face. “Ashton, please! Look at me! Look at me! I’m right here! Look at me!”

The intensity in Ashton’s eyes didn’t go away but it became less of a struggle to hold him back. Eventually, he stepped back but I stayed between him and my brother.

“It’s not a big deal.” Joey shrugged, the only one of us who was still smiling. “Like I said, I’ll hit the road. As soon as I’m out of Ivory, that’ll be the end of it. Picardo won’t give a shit about one SUV. The asshole’s got enough money to buy another one.”

“Picardo’s not just anybody,” Ashton said. “The guy doesn’t think like a normal person. You ever think about what happened to the other men you pulled the job with?”

“It was a bunch of randoms. We agreed to do the job and go our separate ways.”

“You didn’t go far enough. Picardo already bodied the rest of your crew.”

Joey finally stopped smiling.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Ashton continued. “Four bodies found on the outskirts.”

“What?” I said. “How come—”

“There was no point in mentioning it to you. I didn’t think it was any of your business. Apparently, it is…”

“Shit.” Joey shook his head and sighed. “I guess I need to hit the fucking road—”

“You’re gonna get your family killed,” Ashton said. “You’re gonna get Rose killed. Your only chance out of this is to give Picardo his shit back.”

“We can’t give it back. The man who hired us gave us top dollar. Said he wanted to own personal property of the one and only Aaron Picardo.”

Ashton stepped forward. I stayed between him and my brother but thankfully, it didn’t look like he planned on taking another swing.

“Well, you’ll have to tell Picardo where you sent his ride. Otherwise, you’re dead for sure.”

“And if I do that, he won’t kill me?”

“I don’t know what the fuck he’s thinking. But that’s your only chance. Picardo will probably wanna kill me now just for even talking to you.”

Joey took a step back, his hands on his hips while he thought about it.

“What are you gonna do?” I asked.

Joey shrugged. The look on his face told me he didn’t have the answer he was looking for. “I guess I can try to track his ride down. But I don’t know if I can with Picardo’s goons in Ivory looking for me.”

“There’s something else you can do,” Ashton said. “Turn yourself in. Admit it.”

“What?” I exclaimed. “Picardo will kill him for sure if he does that—”

“He’ll kill Joey but he won’t touch you or me or your parents. Your brother got all of you into this mess, it’s only right he gets you out of it.”

“No… You don’t mean that, Ashton. There has to be another way.”

“My sister’s right. There’s another way.” My brother headed for the exit. “And I’m gonna find it.”

“Joey—”

“Don’t worry, sis. I’ve never gone through some shit without making it to the other end. I got this.”

Before I could say anything more, Joey left the warehouse. The steel door slammed shut and silence filled the warehouse again. It was quiet enough for me to feel the tension coming from Ashton.

“Ashton…”

He had his hands on his hips, his eyes closed and his face pointed at the ground.

“You can’t let Joey turn himself into Picardo. There has to be a way to save him… Ashton?”

I moved close to him and put my hand against his cheek. He grabbed my hand and kissed my palm, his eyes locked on mine.

“He’s your brother. I know you need to save him. If there’s a way, I’ll figure it out.” He pulled his phone out and dialed. He kept his eyes locked on me as he spoke to whoever was on the other line. “We need to talk.”